My Valuable & Successful Summer Internship in Southampton

I am a French student and this internship is my first experience in software development. It is also my first time in UK and English isn’t my first language. But this internship was an opportunity to improve my English skills and to work in a small growing company with an attractive environment. During this internship, there were two other English interns, one came for the first time and the other for the second time.

Family Atmosphere

For my first day, I was stressed. But everyone was so friendly and made me feel very welcome, that I totally forgot my anxiety. Everyone wanted to ensure that we had a good experience during the internship, so there was no problem when we had a question. They were very helpful, they supported me to find accommodation and took the time to answer all my questions before the beginning of the internship.

It wasn’t difficult to integrate with the team, thanks to the social events. For instance, each first Friday of the month the team goes to the pub, it’s an opportunity to discuss with the other employees. In addition, the company organised a welcome lunch, that increased the feeling that we were part of the team. We can also discuss at the tea station, whilst drinking a cup of tea or coffee.

It is a small company, so everyone knows each other. It’s not difficult to remember most of the names of your colleagues. Most of all, there is a family atmosphere, people discuss, laugh and work together.

Because of this family atmosphere, I can say that I was not just an intern who was here for a few weeks, but I was a member of the team.

Work/projects

During the internship I worked on different projects according to my capacity and what I wanted to do. The diversity of the projects allowed us to work on a subject that was passionate for us. For instance, we were 3 interns, but we worked on different projects because we didn’t like the same things. In addition, we can work on internal projects but also those for clients^*. That shows that the company trust their interns and help us to be more confident.

It was my first experience of software development in a professional area, I had already made some little projects at the university but not concrete ones. It was just wonderful when I combined all what I learnt with my study in a real project. I was proud to see the evolution of the project which I participated in.

One important thing is the flexible working hours. If you want, you can take a long break and walk around during the lunchtime or eat outside when it’s sunny, for example. There is a conservation area at the Science Park that allows you to walk with nature when you need a break. If you love nature, this is the perfect place. Moreover, you can easily commute to the office, walking or cycling, passing through woods or along roads as you prefer.

Learning

The team is passionate about what they are doing, so they are happy to discuss with me about the project. They also give me pieces of advice and help me when I was stuck. I was not only here to work, I was also here to learn, I really enjoyed it. That’s why I think it’s the best atmosphere to learn a lot technically.

With this internship, it was my first experience of Scrum development, it allowed me to improve my teamwork skills. Furthermore, I improved my programming skills, learning how to efficiently comment my code or to implement and debug a solution for instance.

This experience also helped me to improve myself. With this internship, I realised that I can create something concrete, that allows me to be more confident. I can also say that I am more independent and have improved my communication skills.